Drafting-board.



C. B. ULRICH.

DRAFTING BOARD.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-28, 1912.

1,147,908. Patented July 27, 1915.

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CHARLES B. ULRICH, or wAUsAU, WISCONSIN.

DRAFTING-BOARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 27, 1915.

Application filed August 28, 1912; Serial N 0. 717,420.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLns B. ULRICH, a citizen of the United States, residing at W'ausa'u, in the county of Marathon and State of lVisconsin, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Drafting- Boards, of 'whichthe following is a full,

clear, concise, and exact description, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to an improved construction of drafting board so made that the board may be changed in size either so as to accommodate drawings of different size or so that one portion of the board may be used in making the drawings while the adjustable extension may be used for holding reference papers.

My invention has particularly for its object the construction of a draftingboard of i the kind referred to in such a manner that the board proper will aiford a smooth even surface for receiving the drawings, and that drawn out from the end of the board a clesired amount, affords a nearly continuous surface wlthout, however, lnterferlng 1n any way w1th securely holdlng successive portions of the width of the drafting table by drafting board with the sliding extension pulled out; Fig. 2 isa front elevation of the means of retaining cleats, so that the draft ing board is kept flat at all times. 7

In making the drafting board, I preferably place the grain of the wood used in building up the board so that the strength of the structure is not decreased materially, by mounting the sliding extension in the board itself. To secure thisresult, I build upjthe drafting board proper out of strips of soft wood so taken that the edge grain,

as distinguished from the leaf grain, is presented to the top and bottom of the draft ing board. This results in giving added strength to the parts of the drafting board which project through the sliding extension to engage the retaining cleats and also affords a better engagement for the tacks used to hold the paper in place on the board since the edge grain tends to close up when the tacks are withdrawn, and thus it not only follows that the holes formed in the board by the tacks are closed in a large measure,

but that the tacks are more firmly held by i the board when they are in place.

In connection with the drafting board above described, I preferably employ an adjustable trestle by which the height of the board may be regulated to suit the user or, if desired, thetrestle may be folded up and the board and trestle may be stored away in a minimum amount of room when not 1n use. When the board is in use, the

sliding extension gives practically twice the capacity to a drafting table which the drawing board without the extension would have and thus the tables may be placed more closely together in a drafting room than would be the case if it, were necessary to leave apassageway aroundthe tables equal in length to the extended length of my improved board. I

It will be understood that while I have shown a folding trestle to support my improved drafting board, that other devices ,as desired may be employed for this purpose and that regardless of how the board is I supported, the sliding extensionserves the purposes described above.

The adjustable trestle shown and described herein is provided with a foot-rest which automatically adjusts itself to the feet of the user regardless of the adjustment of the trestle.

lhe several drawings illustrating my inventlon are as follows: 1

Figure 1 shows 1n plan-view my lmproved the drafting board taken along the line 3-3 in Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 shows in reduced end viewthe adjustable trestle shown in Fig. 2. Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

As shown in Fig. 1, the drafting board consists of a plurality of strips 1 of soft wood, between and'to which intermediate strips 2 are glued to form a drafting surface,

as indicated in Fig. 1. As shown in Fig. 3 the strips 1, are considerably deeper than the when the strips 1 and 2 are glued together there is no chance for them to be displaced vertically relatively to each other and they are securely held in the position indicated owing to the increased surface between them. Justbelow the bottom of the strips 2, grooves are formed in the side Walls of the strips 1 to receive tongues extending side-wise from the strips 3 which constitute the sliding extension ofthe drafting table. The combineddepth of the strips 2 and 3 is not as great asthe depth of the strips 1 and through the portions of the strips 1 projecting below the strips 3 transverse dovetail grooves are formed to receivetapered tongues of similar conformation formed on the upper edges of the retaining cleats 4 and 5 bymeans of which the drafting board is held flat. The dove-tail grooves formed in the pieces 1 are also tapered to fit the taper tongues on the cleats so that by driving the cleats 4 and 5 tightly into the dove-tail grooves, they may properly hold the drafting board in flat position at all times.

The strips 3 have end tongues or tenons formed on their right hand ends which'enter a corresponding groove in a head-piece 6. These pieces 3 are held together at their right hand end as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The left hand ends of one or more of the strips 3 have secured to their under side a stop cleat for engaging the retaining cleat 4 when the extension is pulled out, so that it can not be entirely removed from the drafting board.

In making the pieces 1 and 2, they are cut from the lumber employed (which may be of any soft wood, although I find soft pine to answer the purpose admirably) in such a way that theleaf of the grain of the wood extends vertically, or in other words, that the pores are presented to the top and bottom edges of these strips 1 and 2. From this it will appear that the leaves of the 'wood extend uninterruptedly between the strips '3 from top to bottom in the pieces 1 and thus these pieces afford a much stronger support for the pieces3 of the sliding extension and also for the retaining cleats 4 and 5 than would be the case were the grain in the pieces 1 not thus placed. By presenting the pores or edge grain of the pieces 1 and 2 to the upper surface of the drafting board, a better engagement is afforded for the tacks used to hold the paper on the board than would be afforded by the side or leaf grain of the strips and furthermore the edge grain tends to close when the tacks are withdrawn, thus reducing the holes in the board to a minimum.

The left hand end of the strips 1 and 2 have formed on their ends, end tongues for engaging a corresponding groove in a T- square guide 7, made preferably of hard wood carefully trued up and smoothed to shrink or swell without changing the accuracy of the guide and without danger of splittingfthe drafting board proper.

It will be noted that the upper surfaces of the strips 3 are quite wide relatively to the spaces which areileft between them, and

thus, since the upper surfaces of such strips lie in the same plane, they together constitute a workingsurface which is practically uninterrupted and affords a very effective support for reference drawings and papers of'any description. If it is'desiredto make a drawing longer thanthe drafting board proper, an'au'xiliary'board of suitable size, as'shown at; 3 may be placed on the extension to extend and continue the surface of the drafting board proper.

The drafting board proper 1s supported as shown in the drawings by an adjustable trestle consisting of two diagonally disposed legs 9 and 10 hinged attheir upper ends to the cleats 4 and 5. These legs have pivoted to them forwardly extending legs 11 and 12, to the lower ends of which the braces 13 and 14 are pivoted. The upper ends ofthe braces 13 and 14 are of reducedcross-section to engage desired ones' of the holes formed in the under surface of the legs 9 and 10. A corresponding series of holes is formed in the upper surface of the legs 9 and 10 to receive the lower ends of the braces 15', which are pivoted at their upper ends to'the rear ends of the retaining cleats 4"and In the drawings, the brace 15 secured to the cleat 5 is the only one which appears since the other one is hidden behind the other parts both in Figs."2 and 4.

The braces 15 are secured rigidly together 'near'their lower'ends by a cross-piece 16 so sired. The legs 11 and 12 have supported between them a footrest 18 which extends the length of the drafting board and this foot-rest is freely pivoted at each 'endso that it may turn and accommodate itself to the feet of the user, at once doing away with the annoyance which would otherwise be experienced in connection with an adj ustable trestle support, of having the feet rest upon the edge of the foot rest for certain positions and upon the flat surface of the foot-rest for other positions of the trestle.

It is generally unnecessary in using the extension to the drafting board to support its outer end since the weight required to be supported is usually small and it is generally not necessary to draw the extension out its full length. For those cases, however, in which it is desirable to support relatively heavy weights by the extension and to draw it out its full length, I provide a removable support consisting of a leg 19 similar to the leg 9 pivoted to a cross piece 20 having dowel pins 21 secured therein to removably engage corresponding holes in the underside of the head piece 6. The leg 19 has pivoted thereto a leg. 22 similar to the leg 11 and these legs are secured in the desired position relatively to the cross-piece 20 by means of braces 23 and 24 in the same manner that the legs 9 and 11 are held in position by the braces 13 and 15. Of these braces 23 and 24, the brace 23 alone is seen since the brace 24 is located behind the leg 19-and hidden thereby. The leg 19 is braced to the leg 10 by means of a cross piece 25 which carries a plurality of dowel pins for engaging holes in the edges of the legs 19 and 10 so as to hold the leg 19 securely against lateral displacement in any desired position depending upon the extent to which the extension has been drawn out.

From the above description it will appear that the depth of my improved drafting board construction is but slightly greater than that usually employed, and furthermore sincethe pieces 2 are of comparatively small depth, the amount of strain exerted upon the board by the retaining cleats 1 and 5 when the latter are properly in place to hold the board flat is reduced to a minimum.

, A. drawer 27 is preferably mounted on the underside of the drafting table, this drawer being shallow so as to not unnecessarily take up the clearance left under thedrafting board, for as is well known to users of these devices, it is very desirable that ample clearance space he left under the drafting board for the knees of the draftsmen since the board must be used frequently when the draftsmen are in a sitting position. In or-- der that the drawer 27 may be quite shallow and yet afford a suflicient receptacle for drafting instruments, pencils, etc., I provide a separate tray 28 for holding the ink bottles, said tray being secured to the outer side of the retaining cleat 5.

It is to be understood that while I have shown the sliding strips 3 of the cross-section described above, it is not necessary that these strips. have that particular conformaupper surface of the sliding extension is brought as near as possible to the working surface of the drafting board proper without unduly weakening the drafting board. It will be observed that one of the uses to which the improved drafting board' described above may be put is that when for any reason two draftsmen may work at the same board on comparatively small work, one using the drafting board proper in the regular manner, and the other using the extension by means of a suitable filler 3,

and that the second draftsman may be located on the other side of the drafting board from the first draftsman and use the head piece 6 as a guide for his T-square.

While I have shown my invention in the particularembodiments herein shown and described, I do not, however, limit myself to these constructions, but desire to claim any equivalents that will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

What I claim is:

1. In a drafting board, the combination of alternate strips of wood extending the full depth of the board, intermediate strips extending from the top of the board but a portion of its depth, transverse retaining cleats engaging said alternate strips at a distance below the said intermediate strips, sliding strips in the spaces between said intermediate strips and said retaining cleats, and a head piece for securing the sliding strips together at one end.

2. In a drafting board, the combination of a first set of strips of wood extending the full depth of the board, a second set of strips extending from the top of the board but a portion of its depth, transverse retaining cleats engaging said first set of strips at a distance below said second set of strips, sliding strips in the spaces between said second set of strips and said retaining cleats, and a head-piece for securing the sliding strips together at one end, said sliding strips having tongues formed on their edges to engage corresponding grooves formed in the sides of said first set of strips.

3. In a drafting board, the combination of alternate strips of wood extending the full depth of the board, intermediate strips extending from the top of the board but a portion of its depth, transverse retaining cleats engaging said alternate strips at a distance below the said intermediate strips, sliding strips in the spaces between said intermediate strips and said retaining cleats, and a head piece for securing the sliding strips together at one end, said alternate strips and said intermediate strips being made wholly or in part so that theleaf grain a support for said head piece when extended, said support for the head piece being readily removable therefrom.

5. In a drafting table, the combination of a drafting board comprising alternate strips of wood extending the full depth of the board, intermediate strips extending from the top of the board but a portion of its depth, transverse retaining cleats engaging said alternate strips at a distance below the said intermediate strips, sliding strips in the spaces between said intermediate strips and said retaining cleats, a head piece for securing the sliding strips together at one end, a support for the drafting board, a support for said head piece when extended, and a brace extending from the head piece support to the drafting board support, said brace being readily removable from the head piece support and the drafting board support.

6. In a drafting table, the combination of a drafting board comprising alternate strips of wood extending the full depth of the board, intermediate strips extending from the top of the board but a portion of its depth, transverse retaining cleats engaging said alternate strips at a distance below the said intermediate strips, sliding strips in the spaces between said intermediate strips and said retaining cleats, a head piece for securing the sliding strips together at one end, a support for the drafting board, a support for said head piece when extended, and a brace extending from the headpiece support to the drafting board support, said brace having hooks on its ends for removably engaging said head piece support and said drafting board support.

7. In a drafting board, the combination of a set of strips of wood, another set of strips of wood extending below said firstmentioned strips of wood, retaining cleats engaging some or all of said other strips, and sliding strips in the spaces between said cleats and said first-mentioned strips.

8. In a drafting board, the combination of a set of strips of wood, another set of strips of wood extending below said firstmentioned strips of wood, retaining cleats .engaging some or all of said other strips,

sliding strips in the spaces between said cleats and said first-mentioned strips, and a removable support for the outer end of said sliding strips.

9. In a drafting board, the combination of two sets of strips ofwood secured together to form the working surface of the board, the strips of one ofsaid sets projecting below theunder surface of the strips of the other set, and retaining cleats engaging the projecting portions of some or all of said projecting strips.

10. In a drafting board, the combination of two sets of strips of wood secured together to form the working surface of the board, the strips of one of said sets projecting below theunder surface of the strips of the other set, and retaining cleats engaging the projecting portions of some or all of said projecting strips, said strips being made wholly or in part so that the leaf grain of the wood extends substantially perpendicularly from the working surface of the drafting board.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 26th day of August, A. D.,

CHARLES B. ULRICH. lVitnesses:

ALBERT C. BELL, ALBIN C. AHLBERG.

0011185 of this P nt may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the commissioner of P t t Washington, D. G." l 

